from the um,-right dept

Back at the end of August, we noted the ridiculous claims of an operation called "ZapTunes," which insisted that it was offering unlimited MP3 downloads for $25/month -- but with a "free" trial period (but one where you still had to hand over your credit card details). As we said at the time, nothing about the site sounded legit, despite its claims to the contrary. A little digging suggested that the site was actually just a search engine for MP3s, using (at least) Last.fm's database (which includes plenty of song listings that you can't download). $25 per month for a search engine that suggested you could access songs that simply weren't online (musicians who used Last.fm saw their own unreleased tracks "listed" in the search engine)? Uh, yeah, right. On top of that, there were bizarre, unsubstantiated claims about $5 million in funding.

We also noted that the site was already being sued by EMI, and now (not surprisingly), the company has announced that it's shutting down the site in a week, with a bizarre and equally amusing press release, claiming that it was "angry music bloggers," who "despised the attention" the company got, who helped "ruin" the site's "popularity." Um. Yeah. Except none of that is true. If there were actually a site that offered this kind of deal, legally, tons of sites would report on it happily and encourage people to check it out. But this clearly was not such a site. The company claims it will be back, but, given that it couldn't substantiate any of its initial claims, I wouldn't hold my breath for that...

from the sounds-dodgy dept

What is it with random companies springing up claiming to have legal download offerings that don't pass the laugh test. Remember a year ago, we talked about a company called Bluebeat.com that claimed to be the only site where you could legally buy Beatles MP3s, based on a bit of absolutely ridiculous logic, that it was using "psycho-acoustic simulation" to recreate the tracks, thereby giving it a brand new copyright. That company also got a registration for these "new" works by the Copyright Office, hoping that most people wouldn't notice that the Copyright Office registration process is a pure rubber stamp effort, and conveys no actual legitimacy to a bogus copyright.

Well, it looks like we've got another similar situation, as some mysterious company called ZapTunes is claiming to offer unlimited MP3 downloads for $25/month -- with an initial "free" period, though you have to hand over your credit card details. The whole thing sounds highly questionable, however. The store claims to have licensed the work from all the major labels, including being able to offer Beatles MP3s and AC/DC MP3s -- which have not been offered in MP3 format anywhere.

In the comments on that Hypebot article, some point out that the company appears to just be scraping Last.fm data, as it found a track that one guy had created himself, which only lived on his computer (but which had been "scrobbled" and the info was sent to Last.fm). The company also claims to have raised "about $5 million in funding from various Venture Capitalists," but doesn't seem to name any of them.

Despite the claims from the company that they've secured the necessary licenses for this, it appears not everyone agrees. EMI is apparently already starting the legal process. The whole thing really makes me wonder if these sites honestly think that people will buy their claims when there seems to be little evidence to support them. There are plenty of sites out there that offer up such content in a clearly unauthorized manner -- but at least they're honest about what they do. It seems pretty silly and destined to fail massively to falsely claim the legal rights to music you almost certainly did not license.